Hungarian news in English, your guide to the politics of Hungary.

Weber: Orban is a difficult partner

“Viktor Orban is a difficult partner,” according to Manfred Weber, the EPP’s Spitzenkandidat for the next European elections. The Bavarian politician was asked by Austria’s APA news agency whether he considers Orban a partner within the party family.

Weber said that Orban has made some decisions that neither he, nor the EPP group can accept. “The steps which lead to CEU’s decision to leave Budapest,” were among these decisions, he explained, adding that academic freedom is one of the EU’s fundamental principles.

According to Secretary of State for International Communication and Relations Zoltan Kovacs, Weber is wrong, because the Central European University has not moved, “it was, is and going to operate here in Budapest”. Hungary’s international spokesman stressed that as Spitzenkandidat he should be more concerned about the fact that “the Hungarian left has allied itself with the xenophobic and anti-semitic Jobbik party”.